Indian peace activist Satya Paul Arora also dismissed concerns bilateral ties will worsen under a Modi-led BJP government.
“The same fear was when NDA government came into power, BJP government will come [and] it will harden our relations. But history has shown that Vajpayee proved better friend to Pakistan because when a person is in opposition he is free to speak anything but when he comes in power, in the chair of responsibility then he behaves differently,” said Arora.
Senator Mushahid Hussain was Pakistan's information minister when Vajpayee visited the country aboard a bus in 1999. He said Pakistan has changed in the meantime and its parliamentary mainstream no longer uses India to score political points.
“The problem lies not in Islamabad but… in New Delhi. Unfortunately, in India, sometimes a lot of these issues are hostage to domestic electoral politics. In Pakistan, I want to make it very clear for the last five elections India has not been an election issue in Pakistan. I hope the time comes when Pakistan will cease to be an election issue in India,” said Hussain.
Despite a lack of progress on territorial disputes, trade ties between India and Pakistan have significantly improved in recent years. Last month saw Islamabad on the verge of granting New Delhi long-awaited trade concessions under Pakistan's international obligations, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif withheld the decision at the last moment.
Advisor on foreign policy Aziz explained the reasons for delaying the decision to grant India trade concessions.
“It finalized just less than one month before the [Indian] elections. So, it was pointed out that Pakistan should not interfere in the Indian elections so by making a deal with this government if they get advantage in the election time then it will appear to be some kind of interference so that is why it was decided that now the election is only less than a month away and the new government will come by May 16 so it is better to delay this package,” explained Aziz.
The Indian election comes at a pivotal time in south Asia, as foreign troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. Analysts in Pakistan say close cooperation between New Delhi and Islamabad is vital to prevent their rivalry from igniting a proxy war for influence in Afghanistan.
